Why Is He Running?

Kinky Friedman, left, with his future Energy Czar Willie Nelson

I decided to run for governor (of Texas) because I've achieved a lot of my dreams, or realized a lot of my dreams in my life — [like] eating monkey brains in Borneo with the Peace Corps. And I've played the Grand Ole Opry. So I've done all this stuff and I want to see that other people, particularly younger Texans, get to realize some of their dreams. If musicians do run the state when I'm governor, we won't get a lot of legislation done in the morning, probably. All these politicians are owned by special interest or by political parties. I am a free bird. I am an independent, and that is just what Texas needs now. When I'm governor, we will bring the Ten Commandments back to school. I may have to change their name — "the Ten Suggestions," maybe. But we have to get them back in. And I would like to bring nondenominational prayer in the public schools. What's wrong with a kid believing in something? And what's wrong with an independent governor that can have an issue like prayer in school that he likes, and like gay marriage that he likes. He doesn't have to toe the party line all the time. So, I mean, I think gays have every right to be just as miserable as the rest of us. So I support gay marriage. Renewable fuel: We gotta stop the Saudis from playing the jukebox and the rest of us dancing to the tune. I mean, gas is going to be costing a dollar a drop in a few years. So bio-diesel is something that my friend Willie Nelson has really been promoting, and I am with Willie on this. In fact, Willie will be my energy czar. Well, all I really offer is I know how to ride, shoot straight and tell the truth. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan when he first ran for governor of California, "The other guys got the experience — that's why I'm running." That's exactly why I am running.

You can watch the video here, read the 6,000 words or so that The New Yorker devoted to the Kinkster here and/or go to his official website here (why the hell not?).